Making Christmas Memories: Day Four

My husband made the comment the other night, “I love our tree. I think it is my favorite.”

I have to chuckle a bit, because if you look at my tree, you will not find matching beautiful adornments. Instead, you’ll find quite the collection of homemade ornaments and memories scattered across the branches. Each year when the boxes come out of the attic, it is a family affair of placing our memories that span the 22 years of marriage we have enjoyed together. As each ornament appears, there is conversation about where we got the ornament or who made it.

One of our family’s favorite memories is the parties we enjoyed with the Kraig Kelsey family. They live in Georgia now, but each year they would invite 12 sets of families to their house (complete with a billion children I might add!) Every family had to contribute 12 ornaments that were homemade (this was a strict rule). While we enjoyed munching on treats and great conversation (amid watching the billion children), we gathered the families together and shared the ornaments. My children still love seeing the ornaments made by some of their dearest family friends and reminiscing about those parties. Here’s a picture displaying a couple of those ornaments.

My particular favorite ornaments are the ones with the photos of my children. Whether it’s just a piece of construction paper with stickers or glitter, they are undeniable treasures that no fancy ornament could replace.

Here’s a couple of ornaments Courtney made while she was still in preschool.

Some of my other favorites are the ones we’ve obtained on mission trips or ones that remind us to pray for the unreached people of the world. Whether it’s the one made by a missionary in Jordan or one we bought in the market of Armenia, these ornaments are a constant reminder that Christmas is a time to remember the nations who have not heard about the birth of Christ.

So today’s encouragement is to adorn your tree with memories. If your children don’t make an ornament at Mother’s Day Out or at church, take the time to have them make one at home–complete with a photo. I promise your tree will be the merrier because of it.